Ex-staff: PX robbed us

By BEVERLY PETER
TWO former Air Niugini Ltd flight attendants claimed in court that they were “robbed” of their long-service entitlements as they were not fully paid according to their employment contract.
Dorothy Gerotho and Cathrine Paulus, through their lawyer, Edward Sasingian, submitted before acting judge Laura Wawun-Kuvi in Waigani yesterday.
Sasingian said Air Niugini breached their employment contract when they decided to use the women’s long-service leave entitlements to pay them fortnightly without their knowledge, when they were off work. “The agreement was for Air Niugini not to deal with the long-service leave entitlements without the knowledge of the employees,” he said.
“This was supposed to be their savings and they were to claim it after their retirement.
“That benefit was taken away from them by Air Niugini.”
He said Gerotho and Paulus were only made aware that they were paid some of their long service leave entitlements when they were given their payslips, which was tendered as court exhibit.
Clayton Joseph, representing Air Niugini, said the case should be dismissed because the relief Gerotho and Paulus were seeking was not clear.
“They were initially claiming that they were not paid their full long-service leave entitlements, but later in the trial, they agreed that they had received some of their payment as fortnights when they were off from work,” Joseph said.
“The proper thing to do was to make amendments to their relief to state clearly that they have received some of it.”
Joseph said Gerotho, Paulus and other employees were laid off work in 2020, due to the Coronavirus pandemic and limited flights.
“Some of the flight attendants were also put off and the company had to sustain them while they were off,” he said.
“That was why they used the long-service leave entitlements to pay them on fortnights when they were not working.”
He said the former employees were seeking a particular amount of money as their leave entitlements, but did not provide any calculations.
Gerotho and Paulus served with Air Niugini for 29 and 32 years respectively.
Actingjudge Wawun-Kuvi reserved her decision on the matter and that she would advise both parties on the date.